A consistent theme of mine is how critically important it is for us to have a foundational understanding about what Christianity is about. Most of us who have been in the church for a while know a few things: God loves us. Jesus forgives our sins. Unless you believe in Jesus you're going to Hell. We can have a relationship with God. We have these scattered bits of theological facts, but what we don't often have is an understanding of how it all fits together.
I was wondering today what could be more important for the church than what I'm about to talk about? If I could have my way, if I could dream up a certain consequence for the church, if I could have one thing be true, what would that thing be? I would want for the church in this day and age to simply have a clear understanding of what Christianity is about.
A conversation that I had with a gentleman yesterday evening at the retreat was about a frustration that he was confronting with a young lady and a young man who was her boyfriend. The young lady was a Christian, the young man was not a Christian. You can imagine what the first frustration is, right? What's this committed Christian doing with a non-Christian in a relationship? That's forbidden by the Bible, and for very good reason. 2 Corinthians 5 or 6, "Do not be unequally yoked with non-believers." That is, don't be tied together with them in a vital way because when you have two oxen pulling the same plow in different directions one is going to be pulled off the furrow by the other. And Paul's concern is that the Christian will be pulled off by the non-Christian, so he says don't even get in the same plow with a non-believer, and certainly not a personal, intimate relationship. Boyfriend/girlfriend is an example of that. And I don't have to spell out ...